Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Alignment:Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment when it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:Halflings are clever, capable and resourceful survivors. They are notoriously curious and show a daring that many larger people can't match. They can be lured by wealth but tend to spend rather than hoard. They prefer practical clothing and would rather wear a comfortable shirt than jewelry. Halflings stand about 3 feet tall and commonly live to see 150.

Primary Class:Paladins take their adventures seriously, and even a mundane mission is, in the heart of the paladin, a personal test an opportunity to demonstrate bravery, to learn tactics, and to find ways to do good. Divine power protects these warriors of virtue, warding off harm, protecting from disease, healing, and guarding against fear. The paladin can also direct this power to help others, healing wounds or curing diseases, and also use it to destroy evil. Experienced paladins can smite evil foes and turn away undead. A paladin's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast. Many of the paladin's special abilities also benefit from a high Charisma score.

Secondary Class:Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Just finished up watching "a new hope". The whole time Luke, Han, and Leia were in the death star I'm thinking this is a DUNGEON waiting to happen! The bridge you have to swing over, the room with the walls that close in. The bad guys shooting at you from above and below. Trying to get to the Millennium falcon (or whatever other escape route). What about when the X wing fighters are trying to blow up the death star and they have vader and other pilots breathing down there neck. How about a Dragon flight? Air warfare. There is so much there you could incorporate. I'm actually thinking about trying to use as many of these references into one adventure, and see how long it takes the players to catch it. nudge nudge wink wink.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I nabbed this from http://rpg-directory.com/threads/another-sandbox-fantasy-idea.40921/Terror has gripped Durandal like never before. For the past year, the land has changed from a relatively normal place to a land filled with magical and dangerous creatures. The lands of Durandel have been swarmed by all manners of creatures that prey on citizens of all nations. Creatures like the Gorgos, Imps, Harpies, Succubi and Incubi, the undead, and many more move about the country side killing and ravaging everything in their wake. The entire known world is caught under the terror of the tales of these creatures. There seems to be no ending to the stream of these new beings causing the rich and poor to be caught in fear.There is no known source of the apparition of these creatures, only rumors exist. They are numerous, from the end of the world to even new lands being found and people shipping these creatures here. A rumor that seems to stand out is one of a rogue wizard trying to create new life through magic. It is said that these creatures are his failed experiments he wrought upon the land. One of his creations that stand out in the tales is the Black Dogs. Giant undead dogs with red eyes the size of a cow. Whenever the dog appears, someone is taken to never be seen again.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And the only thing that's rolling around your head is adventure ideas, scenarios, worlds, villages, cities, castles, roll play mechanics, miniatures... Well that's what my head has been filled with every since the day I typed RPG into Google +

The nice thing about my job, is the computer tends to do a lot of my work, leaving me a bit of free time. Today I'm designing a lost city, I haven't decided if it will be "lost" dwarfs or something different possibly.

The adventure seed came from a discussion at the OSR Google + forum (click on the nice OSR logo). Anyways, the plan will be when the adventures get thru the first door of the city, underground they will run into a NPC that has just woken up, he was fast asleep for the last 300 years. The backstory goes that he was sent out to find a cure for a horrible disease that was overtaking the population. He made it back just before the Wizard of the ancients decided to put the rest of the population magically asleep until a cure could be found by the NPC. Since he got detained, the Wizard acted quickly.

The thing is the NPC is not aware that any time has passed.

Atleast that's one thought.

The other thought is the PC's come into the city to realize it has been entirely wiped out centuries ago, and there are new inhabitants living within the ruins.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

So I'm officially addicted to all things OSR. And its come at a good time, I've had a lot of family things cropping up, its just giving me a bit of focus? or maybe a distraction. Whatever the case I'm fully addicted to Google + RPG communities. So much so, that i've changed my mind a hundred times on what system mechanic to run for games, I've downloaded immense amounts of material (and printed), read thru a shit ton of blogs, created maps, decided on sandbox vs railroading campaigns. OY!

Here's the dose of reality for me. I'm going to probably game at the most once a month. Why fuck with changing systems or learning new rules. I started with AD&D 2nd edition. By far the OSR Clone that sticks out for me as the one to go with is Blueholme, because its just that basic D&D. There's a few minor tweaks that I'm going to do, but why mess with a good thing. In the last bit I've checked out Microlite, Basic Fantasy.org, Call Of Cthulu, and the list goes on. I need to stop changing my mind and stick with one thing, because in the end its going to be about playing a game with my wife and her cousin, once a month at best. So in order to streamline this and stop changing my mind, I'm going to officially create the campaign with the Blueholme rules and do railroad adventures, because that's really what I know how to do. Do up the official binder! basically.

That being said, I may also leave a bunch of the google plus communities because its just taking up far too much time out of my life.

Monday, April 15, 2013

I haven't been able to play my latest creation yet! I had thought about doing it last week, but there was just so much stuff going on, so we left it alone. regardless of the outcome of the adventure I've decided to create a few extra adventures, that will allow the players some "choice" in what they would like to do next. The hook from the 2nd adventure involves 2 things

1 - finding another dwarfen key to get into some ruins
2 - possibly accompanying an NPC to speak with the lord about possible assassination attempts.

I would hazard to guess that number 2 is far more likely at this point, So I will write out a few notes on that.

However I think I would like to have about 3 more adventures prepped in the wings for when they PC's decide they would like to do something different. I've thought a bit about sandboxing, and I may still do that, as I created a bunch of random encounter pages.

Since tonight I may have not much to do, I'm going to start coming up with a few random ideas for adventure seeds. And possibly do a bit of writing as well. I'm hoping to continue to have the PC's based out of the small town of Debinshire, regardless of whether they travel to speak with the Lord.

One idea that came to mind is that if and when the travel, the town will be left somewhat unprotected. Which could have some consequences. As well, I've considered having the Lord's castle be under a bit of siege possibly.

Most importantly however, I think I will create a few side trek type adventures based out of the town, that could lead to a few other things.

Monday, April 8, 2013

there is a reason that the "keep on the borderlands" is such a bad assed module. I've decided for the next game campaign to go open sandbox. I'm going to pre generate a bunch of adventures, use the Keep on the borderlands as the home base, and go with it. Tonight I start writng. and I'm going to handright it :) I just feel like pushing the heroes into a story line, its not going to work with my players at this point. So that's my plan. Thank god for all the wonderful links I've found on the internet for random tables and stuff :)

The more I think about it the more I want my game to be a hex crawl, there's so many great resources our that, and the idea of it being a sandbox I think is just the absolute best thing for me. It will make me a better DM for sure, it will let the players feel like they have some control, etc. The problem is where we left off. We left off on a pre planned adventure. and I'm not sure if I want to run them thru it, or just totally switch to hex crawl. or maybe I can work in the adventure I wrote, or make a smaller version of it, as part of the rest of the hexcrawl, I dunno. The way we left was so very "the questioning kind of mystery type adventure". I can't think of it.... ah cliffhanger.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

I finished up my re-imagining of the "Hunt For Valathune" yesterday, complete with old school D&D module type cover. After posting it on the Blueholme google + page, they seemed very interested in any future work I may do. So that's a nice little positive. I have a decent nugget going right now about some dwarfen ruins. In the Hunt For Valathune I placed some crystal keys thru-out the adventure that will open the door to the dwarfen ruins, so that maybe the next adventure. However there is also the case of why Valathune was hired in the first place to steal items, and the possible assassination that he was planning, so there are a few paths that I can take. I recently posted the following on the "Game Master Tips" google + pageHey all! I'm currently working on an adventure, that is set in a underground world, ala Underdark, sorta. There's large caverns of stalagtities and mites, underground river, some Dwarfen ruins, etc. Even a large winding staircase (LOTR) I'm looking for some ideas for puzzles??? Any thoughts. AND WOW DID I GET SOME! This one stood out for me, and I think I will run with it.Creatures could have been held in stasis by the same spell that sealed the dungeon. In fact I think I might use that idea. A stasis trap, sealed the dungeon, a nobleman adventurer was locked inside, the one who set off the trap. That same nobleman doesn't realize the trap was sprung, and continues on after the spell is broken...have the adventurers rescue him, he promises riches galore when they return him to his father's kingdom...which has been gone for hundreds of years, his disappearance caused a rift in the kingdom.Ford the river that's filled with tities and mites. You could have all sorts of fun with Dwarven ruins; parts of the staircase is flat like a slide and you have to activate specific runes/triggers in the rubble in the correct order so it's all back to stairs, a giant room where you have to step on the correct tiles to get across. Random stalactites fall from the ceiling, or the stalagmites shoot up from the ground. I'm thinking a lot of Indiana Jones stuff could be done.﻿One thing I did in my Underdark campaign was make the staircase a trap, and it worked out well. Have about 3 flights of stairs, 10-12 steps per flight, 25-30 feet (5-6 squares) per step. When the first party member steps onto the flight, have the steps start withdrawing into the wall, one square per round, so anyone still on the flight when it withdraws completely falls to the bottom (a la the receding staircase in the last Raiders movie). Have flying minions come out and attack each member, doing negligible damage but immobilizing the character (save ends). Start with 3 minions on the first flight, 4 on the second, and 5 on the third. My party loved the challenge.﻿and that's actually perfect for the GIGANTIC door to the dwarfern ruins. Its totally a side quest. The main quest line is a hunt for an assassin's organization. There is one note left for the players that states "beware the Orcs have been banging on the other side of that door, they may well get out"... ie... a band of Orcs has laid claim to the old ruin. bit of foreshadowing. I had considered doing the old "door riddle" thing, But I like this idea quite a lot better. If the players dont like puzzles you could have them gather from various sources (requiring various methods to get them) items that fit into a wall or door to make it open up. A puzzle but without the puzzle. ﻿

This all comes about from having done the first adventure and it was soooooo boring, just a hack in slash dungeon crawl, "there's a door to the north". Anyways, I re-wrote or am re-writing the entire second half of the adventure at this point. ﻿What is the goal of having puzzles? That helps me to determine what kind of puzzles I want in a game. For example :

- The puzzle blocks an old passageway made by the dwarves. Since it was impratical for all dwarves to have a key to it, they made a puzzle and shared the solution. It could be a simple "press on words" to unlock, or a few rotating wheels where multiple symbols must align correctly.

- The puzzle was built by illithids to test the intelligence of their newly captured slaves. It determined if they were meant for food, manual labor or more intellectual jobs (such as scribes, assistant, etc)I like that Idea, the game mechanic I'm using has modifiers for fighting on stairs, giving either the monsters or players the upper hand when rolling, throwing moving stairs into the mix will change it up.

I also like that idea this whole thread is leading me down a huge dwarfen ruin path :) which is awesome. I think I'll be incorportating a few Skyrim elements as well. I just started creating crystal keys for the door to the ruins, however incorporating a word puzzle for more important rooms, etc like your suggesting may just be the ticket. now to determine what the prize is at the end of the adventure!

As far as some of the people that dislike puzzles, its all good, I just found that in the first adventure it was soooo very hack n slash, and not a lot of room for Role play, that it got quite boring. "there is a door"... players: check from traps, roll, check to see if its locked, roll." and rinse and repeat, basically. it made for no fun. atleast for me, as it was so very predictable.

I think for starters in this adventure, the side tangent dwarfern ruins are going to be perfect as it'll be about 3 levels down from the original dungeon. Also I think I will probably hold off on giving them the last key for the time being, until I get the rest of it planned. however If I get it done, then they will acquire the last key to get into the ruins. Hmm.. the question becomes do i make the Dwarfs at all, or some other ancient died out race???? that might be the ticket. ﻿The problem with a sealed dungeon is that it's denizens are usually either undead or constructs. It's somewhat predictable.

If I may suggest : the main dungeon (i.e. dwarven ruin) is sealed, but some creatures recently succeeded in entering it (illithid, drows, duergar, they would all fit). They are gradually taking over the city.

In the last few decades of the city (i.e. dwarven ruin) before it's fall, a strange cult started gaining a footing. It predicted the fall of the city and how they could survive it. A lot of the dwarves thought it was ridiculous. But those who believed it went through a magical mass slumber, keeping only a few watchers around. The unbelievers were either massacred by whatever calimity caused the city downfall or fled.

You can have the watchers trying to approach the PC, trying to convey a message they can't deliver since they were not meant for speech. Wouldn't that be somekind of puzzle? ;)﻿Obviously the main reason I just copied and pasted this whole thing is so I can go back and re-read it to keep the nugget going. I think what I will do is create an ancient race rather than use the Dwarf idea at this point. We'll see what comes up.